Dried Shiitake Mushroom Soup

Over the holidays, I made chicken soup. It’s much more difficult to make than dashi, so I did not want to forget about it! Of course chicken soup is not exclusive to Jewish cuisine. Ms. Shimbo was inspired by Chinese mushroom soups to include this recipe in her book. Best quality dried shiitake mushrooms are soaked and then steamed in chicken stock for an hour. The mushrooms become juicy and chewy, adding a nice flavor to the soup.

To be honest, after I made the dinner, I was too tired to eat. Mr. Tess enjoyed the food, though I think I’ll cut the mushrooms to make them easier to eat at work; the mushrooms are huge! Edited to say that this soup is really delicious!

Dried Siitake Mushroom Soup

Hoshi Shiitake Sûpuserves 2
page 232

8 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in cool water for 30 minutes

2 cups chicken stock, homemade

1/4 cup sake

Salt to taste

Ground white pepper to taste

Optional:

2 large chicken thighs, hacked into 2 ” pieces

Garnish:

2 scallions, green part only cut into thin rings

Drain the mushrooms, and reserve 1 cup of the soaking liquid. (The mushrooms float so soak them in a bowl, covered with a soup plate to hold them under water.)
Cut off the stems. The stems are tough to chew even after soaking!
Slice the mushrooms into spoon-sized pieces.
Strain the mushroom liquid through a fine cloth.
Strain the chicken stock, discarding the bones, skins, etc.
In a wide, moderately deep heat-proof bowl, combine the 2 cups chicken stock with 1 cup of the reserved mushroom water. Add the sake, mushroom caps, and if you are using them, the chicken thighs. Cover with plastic wrap and place into your steamer. Steam over medium-high heat for 1 hour. Check the water level in the steamer and add water as necessary.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Serve hot in individual bowls sprinkled with the green onion rings.

Erik,
I’d actually started the soup a few days before, but had only strained enough of the broth for a few bowls of chicken soup, so I still had to remove the vegetables which had cooked almost to mush and remove the carcass, which had disintegrated. Making dashi is so simple and neat compared to degreasing chicken stock, etc… In all, I probably have 20 or a little more servings of the chicken broth. I have what’s left in the freezer now, so this soup, or another one, will be easy to make. The recipe made more like 3 servings, but it was only part of the whole meal.

Ms. Shimbo is an interesting person—she grew up in Japan where her father was a doctor associated with a Christian missionary school so she is not so typical of many Japanese women. She is an excellent cook, judging by her recipes. Many are traditional Japanese recipes, but some are her own with Western ingredients (or Chinese) and Japanese flavors.

In this particular recipe, she says that she was inspired by Chinese mushroom soups.

I think you could substitute the sake with some other wine. Sake is white or clear wine, sort of sweet, but not too sweet. Or maybe a dry sherry. Or if you don’t want to use alcohol, use apple juice or pear nectar, half water half juice with a little (half teaspoon) rice vinegar.